TUCKED away in the middle of Oldham Street is a vintage store which befits its Northern Quarter dwellings in the form of treasure trove, Blue Rinse.
Nostalgic parents everywhere are kicking themselves that they didn’t foresee their unwanted shell suits and novelty Hawaiian shirts would become a hot commodity in 2014.
Blue Rinse offers happy hipsters a chance to buy one off, original pieces from their favourite (yet forgotten about) brands. Brands which will no doubt end up back in the Aladdin’s Cave of discarded fashion when retro style rears its head again in another ten years or so.
Blue Rinse
The vintage store started humbly as the result of two brothers swapping second hand clothes for cash on Leeds market in 1997. Today it has homes in Leeds and Manchester, as well as hosting an outlet on Ebay and lending its own remodelled stock to Urban Outfitters.
"The majority of stock here isn’t actually second hand it’s second sold. The new pieces we have from the stores own brand labels Loving Youth and Remade," says store assistant Joseph Grey. Much to hipster irony, the sales assistants at Blue Rinse aren’t fans of the retail industry - although working in retail. ‘Joseph Grey’ isn’t even this sales assistant’s real name .
"We’re not about consumerism," Mr Grey explains.
TrainersYet Blue Rinse’s mantra of reselling and avoiding wasted products is something they’re happy with.
Blue Rinse’s Remade label champions reworked original vintage pieces modified to adhere to the modern days trends. It does beg the question whether new stock defeats the very purpose of vintage itself. If it looks new, what’s the reason for buying pre-owned clothes?
Perhaps, the idea of vintage has taken on a life form all of its own and now exists as a complete separate entity to the idea of second hand sales. Long gone are the days of carbooting it with your dad on a Sunday afternoon hoping to bag a bargain, this breed of vintage exists to serve the high end needs of materialistic shoppers wanting to make an individual statement.
Nostalgic parents everywhere are kicking themselves that they didn’t foresee their unwanted shell suits and novelty Hawaiian shirts would become a hot commodity in 2014.
Bags and belts
In the ongoing spin cycle of fashion, it’s hard to determine where any idea originates from. Music is the inspiration behind Blue Rinse. The style is a trade-off between the brightly clad new wave of House heads versus the alternate, post-punk movement of the Remake Remodel following. There’s also the festival influence of festival goer with stock in the store sourced from South America to Eastern Europe, with bold patterns reflecting the diverse cultures they have spawned from.
Either way you take it, you can tweak the pieces available to march to your own beat- although some more out there pieces require a tad more bravery than others.
There’s undoubtedly a very northern feel to the clothes on offer, both Grey and other pseudonymously named colleague ‘Aldos’ agree the stock reflects the demands of the northern market.
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"Down south more people tend to want to buy vintage Nike but here it’s always Adidas or Reebok. Fila is the cherry on the cake in your hunt for a hidden gem, if you find a stand up vintage Fila piece, you’ve basically won," agreed the mysterious men undercover.
Verdict: If you fancy a change to the identikit uniform of the Topshop army, it’s definitely worth a visit to update your wardrobe with something different. If you want something more bespoke though check out their online outlet on eBay as they revealed that’s where they stock the real assets.
Follow Blue Rinse on Twitter at: @BlueRinseUK
Blue Rinse: 21-23 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M1 1JG.
Tel: 0161 834 7877
Opening Times Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm
Or visit their website here or visit their eBay shop here.
Follow Leanne on Twitter at @leacoppock
Blue Rinse Inside
Vintage Sportswear
Shirts, Shirts And Shirts
